With a steady hand on Pogo's stick, North Rim rangerJohn Riffey eases his
watched a Japanese lady tiptoe to within a
few feet of a protective wall, lean forward,
gasp, and back away. Mothers clutch chil
dren's hands. Men shorten their stride. For
some people a quick look, a snapshot or two,
and they want out.
Several of Roy Johnson's river research
ers spoke at the seminar. During the past
five years their study has taken on the status
of a minor industry. Three dozen investiga
tors from twenty institutions have fed data
into computers. The goal-a management
plan that would strike a delicate balance be
tween maximum river recreation and mini
mum damage.
Now the recommendations are on rec
ord. Like a suitor not quite suggesting mar
riage-yet-the Park Service has issued a
draft of the plan, with a notice that it has
been neither approved nor disapproved.
But if the public says yes after a series of
hearings, the recommendations will become
policy within a year. Many may anyway if
the Sierra Club suit now pending goes
against the Park Service.
The plan recommends doubling the user
days (one person on the river for one day),
lengthening the summer season from three
and a half months to six months, and estab
lishing a six-month winter season. It would
also raise the ratio of private trips from 8 per
cent of the total to 30 percent, and phase out
all motors over a three-year period, resulting
in longer, quieter trips.
Since each passenger would consume
more user days, the overall result of the
changes would be a 10 percent reductionin
the number of commercial passengers.
National Geographic, July 1978